


Voicemails About Vital Organs

by AshWinterGray



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Fluff and Angst, Good Older Brother Jason Todd, Hospitalization, Hospitals, Leslie Thompkins is so Done, Missing organ, Phone Calls, Spleen, Tam Fox is so Done, Tim Drake Needs His Dad, Tim Drake Needs a Hug, Voicemail, no beta we die like jason todd
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-29
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-14 23:07:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29054130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AshWinterGray/pseuds/AshWinterGray
Summary: Tim's missing spleen comes back to haunt him, and Jason is the only Bat and Family Member available to deal with the problem. There are some realizations, and Tam is just so do with these idiots.
Relationships: Stephanie Brown & Cassandra Cain & Tim Drake & Dick Grayson & Jason Todd & Damian Wayne, Tim Drake & Dick Grayson & Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne & Damian Wayne, Tim Drake & Jason Todd, Tim Drake & Tam Fox
Comments: 16
Kudos: 397





	Voicemails About Vital Organs

“So why call me?”

“Because no one else would pick up.”

Tamara Fox stared at Jason Todd from across her desk with a deadpan stare that would have made any Bat proud. Tam had come a long way since that time she got involved with the nightlife, even if she wasn’t a vigilante, and even Lois Lane would be impressed by this woman’s iron front.

“Huh, and here I thought you actually started to like me,” Jason teased, easily making his way to his little brother’s office. “Give me a sec and I’ll have him up and out. Just don’t call security.”

Jason stepped into Tim’s office where Tam had already dimmed the lights. The reason for this was because Tim had a headache, and the kid desperately needed sleep. Jason was willing to bet money that both were related to the fever that led Tam to call the Bats in the first place. Tim was too stubborn to stay home when sick.

“Alright, Timbo,” Jason shook his brother gently from where the other was slumped over his desk. Jason gave a slight hiss at the heat radiating from such a tiny body. “Up and at em. We gotta get you home.”

Tim didn’t even stir. Odd. Jason gave him another shake, but Tim _still_ didn’t stir. Giving a sigh, he lifted Tim up, only to suck in a breath.

Tim was pale. Paler than he normally was. If Tim was trying to cosplay as a vampire, he might just be succeeding. He was sweating a bit too, but there was a slight shake to his body as if he was shivering. His eyes moved slightly, but the only sound he gave was a groan, as if moving his body was a pain in-and-of itself.

“Okay, okay, baby bird,” Jason looped his arms under Tim. “You better hope Tam clears the floor, or this is going to be embarrassing.”

Tam had, in fact, cleared the floor so that Jason could safely carry Tim out without the added embarrassment. But Jason hadn’t even made it to the elevator before Tam spoke up.

“I trust you have the cover story for Tim’s missing spleen?”

“The…” Jason paused in his steps, not yet turning to face Tam, “…what?”

“The cover story,” Tam stressed as if Jason was being stupid. “For Tim’s spleen being gone. We couldn’t just tell a doctor that the League of Assassins stole his spleen, after all. I thought Tim included the cover story in his medical file.”

Jason whipped around to face Tam, looking for any hint of a lie. But when he found none, he quickly set Tim on the ground. Suddenly, Tim’s symptoms weren’t looking like a common cold anymore. Dang it, this was bad. If this was what Jason thought it was, then…

Jason cursed under his breath as he saw exactly what he knew he would.

“What the heck!” Tam bolted up, racing to Tim’s side. “What happened!?”

“Three days ago,” Jason stated, already dialing one specific number every Wayne and Bat had programmed into their phone. “Tim, Spoiler, Black Bat and I got into a scuffle with a Human Trafficking Ring. It was a bigger operation than we thought, and Tim got stabbed. He told me he had it handled, the stupid idiot.”

The phone rang as Tam stared at the now infected wound. Thankfully, the absolute goddess of a woman picked up.

_“Thomas Wayne Free Clinic, how can I-”_

“Leslie, it’s Jay. Tim collapsed at the office from an infected stab wound. His secretary is about to call 911,” Tam immediately whipped out her phone and dialed as Jason spoke. “But I need you to meet us at Gotham General. I just found out Tim is missing his _spleen_ and it wasn’t on his medical record. Tam has copies, but she doesn’t have the skills to hack the system, and I need to keep Tim alive, everyone else is MIA.”

_“I’ll be there before you,”_ was the curt response as Dr. Leslie Thompkins hung up.

“Hang on, Timmy,” Jason whispered as Tam frantically made phone calls and ushered people about. “Hang on.”

It was a blur after that. Lucius joined them quickly, aiding Tam in the panic that was Tim’s collapse, and the man began the cover story. When the ambulance arrived, Tam told the paramedics that Jason (or Jay Peters, as was his common alias) was Tim’s bodyguard, and that they would both be accompanying Tim to the hospital as they tried to contact the Waynes. Luke Fox ended up driving Tam to the hospital while Jason rode in the ambulance.

“He’s missing his spleen,” Jason remembered telling the paramedics, glad that Batman had instilled a sense of levelheadedness in a crisis to make it seem like he was just doing his job. “He’s…his spleen is gone.”

The paramedics instantly started to prep for the missing vital organ.

\--------------------

“Nothing,” Tam huffed as she dropped the phone from her ear. “I’ve left messages and everything, but no one has picked up.”

“Let me try,” Jason huffed, easily making his way to the exit for a moment. “You two just wait for Tim.”

It had been _two hours_ since Tim had gone into Intensive Care, and because Leslie needed to keep a tight lip on the situation, they hadn’t heard hide nor hair of Tim’s condition. What made the situation worse was the fact that _no one_ would pick up their phone, even as Tim was potentially dying in a hospital bed alone.

_“This is Bruce Wayne,”_ and there was an annoying Brucie chuckle at the end. _“I can’t come to the phone right now, but please leave a message after the beep.”_

Jason growled as the phone beeped in his ear. “Listen here, old man. I did not just potentially risk coming back to life for you to pretend like your legally living son doesn’t exist. Tim’s in the hospital, and it’s not looking good. Not Red. Tim. And did you even know the kid was missing his spleen, B? His literal _spleen._ That crucially vital organ that stops infection. Well guess what, B? That organ is gone, and your son is dying of an infection. And where the heck are you!? Not here! It’s been two. _Hours._ His secretary has been calling you for two literal hours. At the rate you’re going, Tim will be dead before you even get here. I hope you can live with that.”

There were similar angry messages left on everyone else’s phone. The only person Jason didn’t threaten was Alfred, and that was because Jason knew for a fact that the man was tacking a sabbatical in France with his daughter. He left a simple message with all the details he had on Tim’s condition for Alfie to listen to later, but his brothers and sister could all suffer his threats. Cass would probably kick his butt, but forget that.

It was probably unfair, threatening his family. But Jason had died alone with no one to even hold his hand. He didn’t want that for Tim, and he doubted Tim’s would-be murderer would be the last face Tim would want to see.

Jason rejoined Tam and Luke, but both gave a shake of their heads. Jason dropped his face into his hands. This was going to be a long day. Luke put a hand on his back.

“I’m sure he’ll be okay,” he assured.

Jason huffed a laugh. “Kid might pull through, but this is going to cause problems for him in the future. He’s not a superhuman.”

Tam looked as exhausted as Jason felt, and the two prepared themselves for the long night in uncomfortable hospital waiting room chairs. Maybe Bruce could donate money for more comfortable chairs. He seemed to throw money at a lot of other pointless charities that were just stealing money for personal gain.

But that was beside the point. Tim was in the hospital, none of the Bats were answering, and Jason was mentally planning a way to blow up the League of Assassins as Tam whispered the story of how Tim lost his spleen to Ra’s al Ghul and the Council of Spiders.

\------------------------

“He has pneumonia.”

Jason and Tam were silent for a moment.

“You know, Doc, when I said ‘give it to me straight’ I wasn’t expecting you to be that blunt,” Jason admitted sheepishly, his gaze falling on his little brother. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I appreciate you giving it to me straight, but that was…not what I was expecting.”

Dr. Thompkins rolled her eyes. “The infection took its toll, and Tim will be on serious medication to help his week immune system combat the worst of it. You’re lucky you got to him when you did, but Tim won’t have an easy recovery, and there’s no telling what might happen with the pneumonia added to the problem the infection has caused.”

The worst part was Tam and Jason weren’t even allowed in the room with Tim unless they had thoroughly scrubbed down and were wearing protective hospital attire. Jason could do nothing but watch his little brother struggle to breathe as he slept fitfully.

It had been just over eighteen hours since Tam had called Jason to get Tim.

Jason wanted to lash out, hunt down the freaks who hurt his brother, kill a few thugs and maybe a rogue or two, punch a wall. But he didn’t have that option right now. Some idiot at Wayne Enterprises had gotten a photo of Tim on the stretcher with a mocking caption about teens not being able to handle the pressure. The worker was fired on the spot, but the damage was done. The Press were staking out the hospital, waiting for some news, but Leslie was keeping tight lipped, and none of the other staff knew of Tim’s condition.

But everyone in Gotham was demanding to know where Bruce was.

Jason didn’t know. He didn’t know where his brothers and sister were either. Babs had given him a call when she saw the news, but he hadn’t heard anything from anyone else, though Tam said she spoke to Stephanie, but since Steph wasn’t family, she couldn’t get through the reporters. Babs promised to try and get ahold of the others when she was available, but that had been hours ago.

Too many hours ago.

Jason needed some air, and he left the room, leaving Tam at Tim’s bedside. She could take good care of them. Luke was waiting for them, a pained look on his face as he watched Jason rip off the hospital garb a little too aggressively. The message on Tim’s condition was clear.

“I’m going to try calling them again,” was all Jason got out before he ducked into the room serving as Leslie’s office for the time being.

Fiddling with his phone, Jason scrubbed at the tears unwillingly falling from his eyes and began to search through the contacts. No one had tried to call back.

“Hey, Bruce,” Jason said once the stupid ring went to voicemail. “Listen, Tim…Tim isn’t doing great. Leslie managed to get to the infection in time, but the lack of spleen…it’s causing problems, B. He’s got pneumonia, and Leslie isn’t sure what that will do to him. He really needs you right now, and he shouldn’t be alone. Not…not like I was.”

Jason paused, sucking in a shaky breath. He couldn’t believe this was actually happening.

“I’m sorry for snapping. But please just come home. Your son needs you.”

_I need you._

Unable to say anything else, Jason hung up. His breathing hitched, and he hunched over himself, but there wasn’t much else he could do. So he sat there for a bit, feeing like his chest was pounding, and his eyes burned, and he was shaking and trembling.

He sucked in another breath and made a few more phone calls to his brothers, each time having to pause to let out the tears.

\------------------------------

Jason jerked away as he heard Leslie screaming. Several nurses and doctors rushed to the room, and Jason could only blink the sleep out of his eyes for a moment. Then he bolted up, jostling Tam at his side. Luke had to physically restrain Jason, though Jason barely managed to process what was happening.

He would later call it a sixth sense, knowing that Tim was in danger, but at the moment, Jason’s subconscious could only process that his baby brother was in danger.

Three hours, Jason was left to wait for three hours for news on Tim as the doctors and nurses bustled in and out of the room. Jason had his face buried in his hands, waiting impatiently as his knee bobbed up and down.

A finger poked him, but Jason wasn’t surprised.

“Cass,” he breathed, moving up to pull her into a hug.

Cass curled easily into the embrace, swatting away his apologies for the threatening phone call he sent earlier.

“Was…away,” Cass explained gently. “Had to take plane. Little brother?”

Jason shook his head, knowing his sister would understand his meaning. She buried her face against his chest, leaving them both to wait for some news in silence.

“Any idea where the others are?” Jason asked her at one point.

The shake of a head was the only answer he got. At another point in time, Luke came up with coffee, and Tam fell back asleep, the worry and fear driving her into exhaustion. Jason mentally decided he was going to buy that woman the biggest care package he could find for putting up with Tim.

The doctors and nurses all left the room after those three hours of waiting. Leslie followed shortly after.

“He’s stable,” she told them. “His heartrate picked up, and he tore open his stitches in his sleep. We’re sedating him with a heavier dose to try and stop the nightmares from making him thrash.”

Jason nodded, squeezing Cass a little tighter. He couldn’t quite let her go.

“Get some sleep, all of you,” Leslie gave them a nod. “We won’t get anywhere if we’re all in a sorry state.”

\----------------------

The next morning found Jason exactly in that sorry state, once more making a phone call to Bruce. From what Jason could gather from Cass, she had left for Hong Kong about a month ago. She hadn’t really been in contact with anyone but Steph since then, and she had been on a stake out when Jason called.

Meaning no phone.

Still, Jason found it hard to believe that _none_ of his brothers had their phones on them. Then again, Damian probably wouldn’t care. Dick would probably care, but Jason guessed they had to be on a bad trip if the Big Bird wasn’t answering calls about Tim.

Jason had given up trying to figure out what was going on with Bruce.

“Hey, B, it’s…it’s me again,” Jason sighed, brushing a hand over his face. “Cass is here now, but…but Tim nearly flatlined. It wasn’t good, Bruce. You should…you should really get down here. I don’t know what sort of thing you and Tim are going through that would let you just…let you just abandon him like this, but take it from someone who suffered. Don’t let him die alone cause of an argument. Nothing is worth thinking your dad hates in your last moments. So just…just come home.”

Hanging up, Jason took another breath and turned to look out the door to Leslie’s office. Cass sat curled up in the chair Jason had once occupied, and her gaze was locked intently on the door that led to Tim’s room. Luke had gone home to shower, and Tam was…

Tam had just jerked to a stand.

Jason was already moving to the door when a familiar face ran into his line of sight. Two figures, actually. The first figure was tall, and he looked more disheveled than usual. Of course, the man always looked a little funky with his terrible fashion sense, but he looked terrible. The younger was a little more disheveled than Jason thought possible for the kids, but he kept to the older’s side.

Dick Grayson made to lung for the door leading to Tim’s hospital room, but Jason caught him swiftly.

“Easy, Big Bird,” Jason soothed, holding his brother down despite his protests. “Easy. Doc is letting anyone in except select staff right now. And you smell like you haven’t showered in days.”

Dick slumped against Jason’s chest, body trembling.

“I came as soon as I could,” Dick whispered with a broken keen. “I-I’m not too late?”

“No, no Dickie,” Jason shook his head. “He’s still alive. We had a scare last night, but he’s alive.”

Jason glanced down to where Damian had chosen to sit beside Cass, and Cass had taken the liberty of running her hand through the kid’s hair as he stared down at his hands. Lost. Jason regretted his phone calls now, seeing his brothers like this. Dick was still limp in his arms, body trembling with silent sobs. Jason didn’t dare mock Dick for this because he had been in the same place not too long ago. This whole thing was a nightmare.

“Any idea where Bruce is?” Jason asked his brothers once he got Dick in a chair.

Dick shook his head. “Damian and I were on a Titans mission. We got your messages shortly after we got back and booked it here.”

Jason winced. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Dick shook his head. “It…it wasn’t cool, I’ll admit. But we did kind of leave Tim here alone when were going to see the Titans. His friends kept asking about him the entire trip, and they were pretty peeved. They…may or may not have heard the voicemail you left. I’m such an idiot.”

Jason couldn’t disagree with Dick. In all honesty, Jason only had bits and pieces, but there was some sort of deal going around that Tim and Damian weren’t allowed to be in the Titans Tower at the same time. However, from what Jason could tell, most of the Titans weren’t aware of this deal, and neither Dick nor Tim planned to mention it. Jason had only found out about it from Steph when she brought him waffles, and she only found out because she was practicing her “Spying Skills” as she called them.

“Dickie, this isn’t normally my thing, but clearly someone needs to be honest with you,” Jason placed a hand on Dick’s back. “We all know Damian is practically your son, but you’re picking favorites here.” Jason had to hold up a hand at Dick’s squawk. “Just shut up and listen. First of all, you and Tim made that deal that Tim would only go to Titans Tower if Damian wasn’t there.”

“What?!” Damian demanded.

“And, you’ve been taking Damian pretty often,” Jason ignored the younger. “Now, I don’t know what’s up with Bruce, but Timmy’s taken the brunt of most of the office work, and this was the first time Timbit had remotely enough time to take off work and go see his friends, except you decided Damian should go. Steph told me Timbo hasn’t seen his friends in a month and a half because he’s been busy or your deal got in the way. And on top of that, when was the last time _you_ hung out with Tim outside the nightlife, just the two of you?”

Dick was silent for a moment, clearly wracking his brain, and his eyes going wide in realization.

“I-”

“I’m not saying you can’t spend time with Damian, or that you can’t take him to see the Titans, or any of that, but you’ve put Timmy in a spot where he feels isolated,” Jason sighed as Dick stared at him with those stupidly large puppy-dog eyes. “And don’t try to give me any of that nonsense about Timmy not saying anything about it. We both know that kid had a messed-up childhood, and he was _trained_ not to ask for what he really wants. You have to learn to see around the mask because that kid wears one every day.”

“Little brother is…sad,” Cass added her two cents.

Two cents that made Dick wilt.

\-----------------------------

Jason went back to the Manor to wash up and put on some fresh clothes. He hadn’t originally planned to go to the Manor, but he found himself bringing Damian and Cass with him, so it made more sense to get to the Manor than a safe house. Lucius would be sitting in the waiting room today with Dick, giving the others time to go home, get sleep, eat food, and process everything.

Steph was there to greet them.

“I’ll make dinner,” Jason promised his siblings and Steph before ducking into Bruce’s room.

Jason didn’t have clothes of his own here at the Manor, other than armor, so he gathered a soft turtleneck and a pair of jeans (Bruce owned absolutely nothing even remotely relaxing, but the jeans were a nice surprise) and he slid into the shower. He felt like a robot as the water ran over him, and he wasn’t sure how long he’d been staring blankly into space before he began to move.

He peaked into Damian’s room on his way to the kitchen, spotting the kid on his bed with his dog and cat, staring at his sketchbook, but pencil seemingly frozen in time. Not sure what to say, he moved over to Cass’s room but didn’t dare open the door as he heard silent sniffles and hushed whispers.

There wasn’t much else he could do, so he went to the kitchen. It took him a moment to start doing something. Longer than a moment, really. He just kind of stood there, staring at everything. Nothing really computed.

This whole thing was so surreal. They fought maniacs and monsters on a regular basis, and yet something as simple as pneumonia might just take their own.

Jason grabbed his phone, first.

“B…I…” Jason swallowed, unable to say much else. “I’m scared.”

Jason hung up, put his phone down, and began cooking. He needed to stop thinking. Need to do something familiar for once. So he just cooked whatever he could with whatever was available. It seemed like the best he could do at the moment.

\----------------------------

“And you have no idea where he is?” Kate asked incredulously.

Kate Kane had come to the hospital, shoved right past all those reporters, and marched her way over to where Jason and Luke were sitting. She was glaring at the floor.

“He had better be off world,” she grumbled, sinking into a hospital chair. “Or kidnapped. Or something. Have you called him?”

“And left messages,” Jason admitted.

He was too tired to be angry, and Kate clearly saw that because she wrapped her arms around Jason in a tight embrace. It was all just too much, and Jason found himself crying again.

“I don’t know-”

“Shut up,” Kate hissed, though not unkindly. “You know _exactly_ why you’re crying, kid. Don’t you dare be ashamed of that.”

Jason leaned further into the embrace.

\-------------------------

Phone call after phone call. Message after message. And still nothing from Bruce.

Jason had lost count of how many times he called Bruce, but for once, he was leaving a good message for his dad to find.

“He’s awake, B. He’s _awake_.”

The words were said with tears and gasping sobs of relief. It had been Jason’s turn to watch over Tim that day, and he had been joined by Tam once more. Since that time three weeks ago, a lot had happened. The media was speculating about Bruce’s absence, sparking some nasty rumors. The kids had all agreed to take shifts. Dick and Jason were taking turns as Batman depending on who was in the hospital.

And still nothing from Bruce.

But now Tim was awake, or he was awake. Leslie made him go back to sleep. But he was awake! Jason would admit he cried. Then, after he called Bruce, he realized his brothers, sister, and fellow Bats would want to know about Tim’s condition, so he called them all, and Jason was just crying from relief.

His little brother was going to be okay.

And Jason sobbed as he and Tam had a little party in the waiting room of the hospital. The press had a field day with those pictures.

\--------------------

Alfred came home a week after Tim first woke up. By that point, Tim was able to stay awake for far longer, and they only had one scare since then, too. Jason was at the Manor when the butler stumbled inside, making lunch as Dick, Steph, Babs, Damian, Harper, and Duke watched. It was Cass and Kate’s turn to wait with Tim, so the others were just trying to occupy themselves until patrol.

“Good heavens,” Alfred breathed as he stumbled.

The group of vigilantes instantly bolted to their grandfather figure and helped him with the mound of groceries he was trying to bring inside. Alfred watched, entranced, as they all put the food and other knick knacks away.

“Master Jason?” the old man turned to him.

Jason gave a tired, broken smile. “Hey, Alfie.”

Alfred, for his part, sat down. It was the first time Alfred actually ate a meal with them, as one of them, and before they knew it, everyone was sharing fond memories of Tim. Some had more tales than others, but it was the most relaxed any of them had been since Jason and Tam rushed Tim to the hospital. If the Fox family came over for dinner, well, there were just a few more stories added to the table.

\-----------------------------

It was just another day in the hospital, but this time, Tim was awake, talking and laughing. In a few days, he would be released to go home, where everyone was ready to welcome him with open arms. But really, it was just another day.

Then there was shooting, and a nurse barged into Tim’s room to demand Leslie’s attention because:

“Dr. Thompkins! They found Bruce Wayne! He needs medical attention, now!”

Jason had jumped to his feet, reaching out to stop Tim from doing the same as an afterthought. Kate was his partner today, and she was already rushing out of the room to see what the heck was going on. Jason shared an odd look with Tim.

“You don’t think…” Tim started then bit his lip.

Jason knew exactly where Tim’s mind had gone, just as he knew his little brother was snuffing down that hope. So Jason gave a snort and ruffled Tim’s hair.

“Knowing him, he probably did.”

Three hours later gave them their answer.

“You’re an idiot,” Leslie snarked, getting an amused laugh from a heavily bandaged Bruce as a scandalized nurse wheeled her into Tim’s room with Kate walking in behind them. “Honestly, Bruce, what did you think would happen?”

Bruce, clearly in Brucie Wayne mode, gave a shrug. “I don’t know, maybe Superman would save me?”

The nurse quickly scurried from the room, leaving the group of practically family to sit in each other’s presence. It was silent for a moment, Jason was sitting at Tim’s bedside, one arm around his brother, and Kate was leaning against the wall, watching her idiot of a cousin.

“Are you…?” Bruce paused, sucking in a breath as he turned to face his two sons. “Are you alright, Tim?”

Tim shrugged, even as Jason gave him a prompting nudge.

“Good, that’s…good.”

Jason rolled his eyes at Bruce and motioned the man to just do something. Bruce took the olive branch for what it was and reached his arm over the gap between the two beds to offer Tim his hand. After a moment’s hesitation, and a quick glance to Jason, Tim reached out to grab Bruce’s hand in return. Bruce immediately sagged in relief, all the tension bleeding out of his body.

“You’re going to be okay,” Bruce squeezed Tim’s hand.

In Jason’s personal opinion, those words seemed to assure Bruce more than Tim, but Tim was smiling, and Bruce had that almost-smile thing on his face. Jason wasn’t going to judge the scene. Not now that Bruce was finally here.

\--------------------------

“Hey, Dickie, guess what? We found Bruce. Turns out he was off world, and when he got back, he got all our messages. He decided to just take his injuries to the hospital here in Gotham rather than let himself get medical on the Watchtower. Tim, Kate, and I are giving him grief for it. What? No! No. Listen, here’s the cover story, Bruce was being kept hostage, and because Tim is Co-CEO, they kept trying to call him, and then Tim got rushed to the hospital, and yada yada yada. Yeah. Yep. Bye, Big Bird.”


End file.
